1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus for producing edible sandwiches, i.e. an edible food item comprising a split bread roll or two spaced bread slices and the intervening filling sandwiched therebetween, said food item being adapted to be grasped and eaten without the use of eating utensils.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional edible sandwiches often include two slices of bread and an intervening edible filling, which can include a variety of different substances, e.g. peanut butter, jelly, bacon, lettuce, tomato, hamburger or hot dog, etc. As a variation, the two slices of bread can be replaced by a split hamburger bun or a split hot dog bun.
One disadvantage of the conventional sandwich bread configuration is that it is less than ideal for all types of fillings. Some types of filings can squeeze out from between the bread halves while being grasped, due to low friction within the filling itself, which makes it too fluid. Examples of such low friction or fluid fillings are egg salad or meatballs with tomato sauce.
Another disadvantage of conventional sandwiches made with slices of bread is that the filling can leak through the porous bread material or weaken the strength of the bread to a point where the bread may fall apart.
A further disadvantage of conventional sandwiches is the fact that if the filling is a hot edible material, e.g. a hamburger or hot dog, heat may escape from the filling through the perimeter space between the two bread sections, thereby undesirably lowering the temperature of the filling. A somewhat similar situation exists with regard to cold sandwiches, i.e. undesired entry of heat into the cold filling.
An additional disadvantage of certain conventional sandwiches is a perceived difficulty in holding the sandwich in one hand. Unless the person has a large hand the grip on the bread slices may be so localized or oriented that the filling squirts out of the sandwich or the bread slices slide apart. This difficulty may be especially the case when the person holding the sandwich is a small child.